Thirty years ago, luthier Dana Bourgeois (Bourgeois Guitars) and performer/vintage guitar dealer Eric Schoenberg teamed up to create a guitar that was at once both very traditional and very forward-thinking, the Schoenberg Soloist. The Soloist was Eric’s dream fingerstyle instrument – a traditionally-built Martin OM-style guitar built with a wide (1 3/4″) neck and a cutaway built into the body. On today’s podcast, we talk about the making of the Soloist and hear about the limited run of Soloist 30th Anniversary guitars that they’ve created. We also discover why Eric loves Martin necks from 1930; the tonal differences he hears between 12 and 14-fret guitars; and much more.

This episode is sponsored by Retrofret and Dying Breed Music.

Luthiers Dana Bourgeois and Rick Micheletti at the Fretboard Summit. Photo by Tim Whitehouse

Eric Schoenberg tries out a TJ Thompson guitar at the Fretboard Summit. Photo by Darrell Jennings